Just piddlin'. Waiting.....waiting....waiting.....
Bought a scarf. Multi-purpose. Warmth, compfy-ness, something to rub mindlessly. Waiting.

There's a lot on my mind and if it were a plate, there would be things falling off.....

mulling

I need a porch swing, a cup of hot tea, a blanket, and telescope.  Mulling over the questions of life, the universe and everything....just can't figure out how 42 figures. *quiet laugh*
It's been a long day. It's been a long day.  It's been a long day. 
I'm ready to follow my bedtime routine and go to sleep.
But I think I'll watch a movie. The question is - do I want to ignore life and laugh or do I want to just cry with the rest of human misery?

the sick, sinking feeling

The feeling you get in your stomach that follows every vein and artery until it has spread through your entire body and brings your brain to a halt....I've got it.  But for some reason, my brain is still functioning. :(  Anyone know how to wash that out?  Never mind, don't answer. It's better than feeling numb.  maybe.

another day

Another day to put one foot in front of the other, to take deep breaths, to love my family, to move forward in life....
And the current tea box wisdom bit is this:

''Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."  ~ Henry David Thoreau 

Funny how sometimes things are reinforced right after the thoughts have brewed in the mind.

in a time of need....

The Prayer of St. Francis (before the crucifix):

Oh great Divine, cast your light into the dark corners of my heart. Give me purity of thought, a firm hope, abundant charity, and profound kindness. Grant me wisdom, and perception that I may carry out that which brings wholeness to this world. Amen.

renew?

possibly. maybe.
perhaps even making over the blog....
we'll see.
new beginning?

Do I smell vinegar?

greener cleaning!
A paste of borax and vinegar works miracles on nasty shower tiles. I'm going to try it out on my porcelain tub. I got the tip from Kim and Aggie of How Clean is Your House? fame. They have great tips that cut through serious muck.
So now my cleaning arsenal includes borax, vinegar, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, and some essential oils. (tea tree oil and peppermint)
I cleaned some wood furniture today with a 1:1 mix of lemon juice/olive oil. Beautiful.

Desperately seeking Susan!

I don't have an email addy for you and I don't seem to get a response at your blog, Susan, so please email me!!

So it's been a year between updates....

I guess all I can say is that I've felt withdrawn and not really interested in sharing much.
Let me give a brief update:

• We've moved. Same city, new house.
• We bought a house.
• We're remodeling said house while living in it.
• We're remodeling another house to sell.
• We have another family member, a sweet boy, now 7months old. *smile*
• We're "interviewing" different mission sending agencies to find the right partner to go to Ukraine with. Finally heading out to the mission field after 13 years of marriage. It seems to be the right time. *smile*
• We're celebrating 13 years of marriage this August....Praise God!!! We have some great examples to look up to.
• Our daughter starts school this year - Pre-K here we come. *laugh* She's very excited.
• We've recently made some wonderful new friends. Among them are Art and Melodye, and their two boys. They blog here.
  
• We have a beautiful pear tree growing and we are trying to figure out when to pick all those pears! *laugh*

So, there's some news. Hopefully, I'll update more often again.

so what's going on here?

Umm...a lot...and not a lot. *laugh*

We're still house hunting. Looking for that perfect fix-her-upper. *giggle* The kids are enjoying the very warm weather while looking out for those larger than normal misquitoes. Noel has taken charge of our tomatoes and they are looking very well - I can't wait to eat the first one! He also planted various hot peppers - but I will not be partaking of any of those. *wink*
I'm still struggling with my time management skills...*sigh* I'm also still purging the house, but it seems to be slow. It can't happen all in one day, but I'd like to see some major improvement in a month.
I haven't read anything lately, so nothing interesting on that point. Same goes for movies. Nothing new.
Of course, this completely blank mind may be due to an empty stomach. I think I'll go eat. *chuckle*

Ever wonder?

Do you ever wonder if when everyone has jumped on a bandwagon celebrating the teachings of a certain individual if maybe...just maybe...something about it all might not be right? That perhaps there is something amiss, but the teachings tickle the ears in just a way that unless one is holding each and every teaching to scripture the problem would be missed? I've been feeling this way for a few weeks. I don't want to go on a feeling though - that's not right either. But I think the feeling is responsible for my procrastination in a certain area. So, I am going to test it out and see....see if perhaps I'm only paranoid and the bandwagon is an okay spot.

Ta-Daaaa!!

I'm back. I think...maybe. *laugh*
In my time away I was able to get a lot of things organized and cleared out. A lot of other things happened as well....hmmm...where to start?

Well, the boys have both had birthdays - Cosette is still asking to make sure her's is coming soon. *chuckle* The boys are enjoying AWANA on Wednesday nights. Cosette and I get girl time then, unless we get to spend that time with Daddy. *smile* Noel has been to Mexico and back to plan for the summer trips he is hosting. He has also been to China for two weeks and is back - again to set things up for the upcoming trips he is hosting to work with brothers and sisters living there and also for work. The 6th China Xiamen International Stone Fair is huge. www.stonefair.org.cn
This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is the 2006 Home and Garden Show at our Great Plains Coliseum. I'm planning to go tomorrow afternoon. *thumbsup* I'll share about my lastest gardening antics later. *wink*
I know more has happened, but really, I can't think of anything. The perils of waiting till evening to get to the blog - I'm exhausted!

So, there we have it - in a mostly empty nutshell. I'm back and while I will be limiting my computer time, I am looking forward to visiting everyone's blog and catching up! (((hugs)))

I won't be online for a while. See y'all when I come back.

For Rosie with Hugs

Happy Healing!!

fun break

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

now, back to the question below....

a question about a question

(this is one of those posts I'll probably keep adding to for a while.)



Does God punish Christians?

What do you think and why? If you answer on your own blog, leave a link! Thanks. *smile*

Finally, the meme.

QuirkyChild tagged me for this. *smile* So, here goes:


Four jobs you’ve had in your life:

1. Postal clerk assistant for the MPS

2. Sandwich/do it all girl for a Deli

3. Jewelry sales at Montgomery Wards (obviously before they closed)

4. Nanny



Four movies you would watch over and over:

1. Pride and Prejudice

2. Sense and Sensiblity

3. Emma

4. You've Got Mail/13 Going on 30


Four places you have lived: (I'm confining this to the U.S.)

1. Colorado

2. Missouri

3. California

4. Mississippi


Four TV shows you love to watch :

1. Good Eats

2. Iron Chef (not Iron Chef America)

3. Thin Blue Line

4. Home remodeling shows


Four places you have been on vacation:
1. New York

2. Illinois

3. California

4. Oregon

Four websites you visit daily:
1. Graceful Mothering

2. blogs (xanga and blogspot - a couple homestead and homeschoolbloggers)

3. Women@Home

4. my email


Four of your favorite foods:

1. fruit

2. chocolate

3. fresh vegetables

4. Crusty bread with thick slabs of meat and cheese - no dressings or anything

Four places you would rather be right now:

1. the beach

2. the aquarium (Monteray Bay is my fav.)

3. a giant library

4. the Louvre, or the Met.

Four bloggers you are tagging:

Anyone left who hasn't done this yet. *laugh*

*happy dance*

I performed fish surgery today and I am quite proud of myself. *grin*
We had a fish that I mistakenly decided to catch and move with a fish net instead of a cup and it caught it's spikey fins in the net. We got most removed, but part just stuck fast - Noel ended up cutting part of the net off so the fish could be loose in the tank. That bit of net didn't work it's way off the fin though as we hoped and it was rubbing a really raw spot on the fish. So, enter the fish doctor. *laugh*
I gloved my hands so I didn't get speared and using those tiny scissors used for suture removal I carefully cut away the netting till I could get it all off. *whew* It was nerve wracking! I'm hoping the fish will heal well and be happy to flash about the tank and give me weird looks as before. I was wanting to take him back to the pet store because he seems to aggressive, but now, I'm not so sure.

Also, in aquarium land, we now have a tad pole to observe. The pet store FINALLY had some. Some people laugh that I actually paid for one instead of going to catch one - but, hey - I've never caught one before and I really don't know when or where to get one in the 'wild'. *laugh* It's pretty cool. *smile*

The guppies we bought are proving to be disastrous. How is it possible for guppies to be so temperamental to keep? I've never had fish die off so fast. *frown* It's enough to make me think of just getting a tank of dirty goldfish! *sigh* We'll see. I'm going to do some more reading before I give up altogether on them.

The gecko has been much more 'social' lately. It's been really neat to see her around instead of always looking for where she's hiding. She's so beautiful - turquoise and grey with orange spots and big orange eyes...and those cool gecko toes...those ROCK. *laugh*

The dog, Molly..she's still rolling in dried grass and bringing it in the house. *laugh* She seems happy to find cozy places to nap and bark at the neighborhood cats. *smile*

add it to the pile....

I just read this quote from a book -

"One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let God be our justifier. We don't need to straighten others out."

The title of the book is Celebration of Discipline. I'm not sure about the author - I'll have to look that up later.
I'm currently reading Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. Legalistic but informative.

Apparently, discipline is something I am sorely lacking. *frown*

Oh, and in case it wasn't glaringly obvious - I'm in a serious funk.